Young and Dumb
by Duchesscupcake
Summary: A little Jamko fluff that picks up where season 7 episode 13 ("The One That Got Away") left off. What did Ladies' Night at Fireside look like through Detective Maria Baez' (love her!) eyes? Please R/R Oh, and apparently I'm supposed to say that I don't own these characters. Is it too much if I say they own me? ;)
1. Chapter 1

Maria Baez was spent. It had been a hell of a couple of weeks. Child abuse, a man shot to death by his wife in plain sight, political issues with diplomatic immunity. She wanted to go home, take a bubble bath, and have a glass of wine with her boyfriend, Andre. She texted this plan to him as she was leaving the 54th precinct in Manhattan. She offered to pick him up from the 12th where he and his narcotics team were working with detectives there on a case. His response didn't thrill her, but she conceded, leveraging a request for a foot massage and breakfast in bed the next morning. That was how she found herself standing outside the Fireside Lounge, where Andre suggested he meet her when he was done. Several of New York's Finest from the 12th were there and he would be thirty minutes, tops, he told her. He failed to mention that it was Ladies' Night at Fireside and, reading the sign that advertised this, Maria begrudgingly entered. _I'm too old for young and dumb things like Ladies' Night_ , she thought. _The first investment banker that asks me if I've been to_ _Bonnaroo_ _is getting a flash of my badge and my off-duty_ _weapon_. Relieved to see a familiar face at the end of the bar close to the door, Maria made her way to Eddie Janko and her circle of friends.

"Baez!" exclaimed Eddie as soon as Maria approached. Maria took in Eddie's excited volume, the hug she was receiving from the petite blonde woman, and that slightly fuzzy look in her eyes and knew that the younger officer had already had a few drinks.

Eddie began with the introductions. Kelsey, an officer at the 3-6, was the woman sitting in a bar stool next to Eddie. In a circle standing around the two women were Steve Wilson, Marcus Beale, and Kara Walsh, all based at the 12th. Maria stood between Kelsey and Wilson and introduced herself.

"Oh, you're my boy Danny's partner!" Marcus excitedly said to Maria after she introduced herself.

Maria lifted a brow. Baez recalled several occasions when Danny relayed that he and Jamie were really trying to work with Marcus and mold his instincts as a cop. The brothers, together with the rookie, would do some off-duty sparring, range drills, or case debriefing. She also recalled that Danny's accounts of these attempts usually ended with him and Jamie in some sort of brotherly disagreement with one of them leaving frustrated with the other more so than with the rookie. Baez, not one to hold back her opinions with her long-standing partner would often genuinely side with Jamie's more conservative approach, thus leaving Maria and Danny frustrated with one another. "Oh, you're Marcus." This earned her an appreciative chuckle from the rest of the group.

"Hey Baez." Jamie Reagan had joined the group. He passed out several beers and then took his post behind Eddie while talking to Maria, "I saw Andre at the House. He meeting you here?"

Before Maria could answer, the girl beside her, _what was it Kelly? Kinley?,_ stood and said, "You can take my seat," looking at Maria before her hard dark eyes visually scanned the bar. "I'm going to tell Paul it's time to go." She turned to Eddie and said, "Don't worry Blondie-Blonde. I'm sure your knight in shining armor will show up here tonight." No one in the group missed her direct stare at Jamie as she slipped between Marcus and Steve to find her boyfriend.

While taking the vacated barstool, Maria tried to flag down the overworked bartender. She noticed the two remaining ladies roll their eyes at each other, followed by Eddie leaning to Maria and saying, "Being a bitch is kind of Kelsey's thing. We just love her through it." She smiled and took a pull from her beer while shrugging her shoulders playfully.

 _Kelsey!_ _That's her name!_ _Kelsey from the 3-6,_ Maria remembered. "What was Kelsey's comment to you about?" Maria asked Eddie.

"Janko got dumped the other day by some hipster loser who couldn't handle her being a female cop," piped in Steve Wilson. "What?!" he asked in response to Eddie's exaggerated death stare. "Did I get it wrong?'

"No," she weakly but good-naturedly smiled at him, "you got it pretty damn right on the head."

Maria remembered early in her career, like these two young female officers in front of her, dating men who really had no idea how to handle her being in law enforcement. Some of them liked it, but couldn't deal with the hours or what she needed to decompress from what she saw on the streets. Some of them knew or quickly realized they couldn't handle her emotional and physical strength, whether it was a challenge to their masculinity or that they were truly inexperienced with a strong woman in that regard. Most of the men she dated were a combination of all of these. She had been so young and dumb, drinking and crying away men, assigning their rejection as a label on her as a person. Every break up would leave her questioning her career choices, her femininity, even her future family. Maria, noticing that the bartender had finally approached her, waved her hand toward Eddie in a dismissive way that matched her tone, "Oh, girlfriend, if I had a dollar for every time a guy dumped me because of my job, I'd have my own private island." The words came out before Maria could stop herself. For a nanosecond she felt like a heartless bitch. She was relieved when Kara clutched her gut like she had been shot and dramatically leaned on Wilson, while Eddie similarly leaned against Jamie and slumped backwards in her barstool, holding her hand to her chest. Both women were dramatically pretending to sob and wail, causing a small giggle among the group.

Smiling, Maria turned to the bartender, "Get me a Chardonnay and two shots of your best tequila for my sisters in blue here."

Both women immediately were upright and smiling, "Oh! Tequila!" Eddie grinned and gave a clap of her hands.

"Sorry," mouthed Maria. Eddie gave a small, genuine smile and shook her head as if to say 'forget about it.'

Maria sat back and assessed this group from the 12th. She liked them. Their circle widened as four others had joined the group; two other men, Chris Maldonado and Keith Roosevelt, and Kelsey with, Maria assumed, Paul. There was a lot of cross-talk and quick movement from one topic to the next. Typical with cops, their profession snuck into everyday conversation. At one point when the group was debating football favorites, Kara loudly discounted the opposing team's chances as she described their star linebacker to be as small as a drunk she took out with one hand in a 10-55 last week. Maria appreciated how they spoke comfortably to each other with a level of camaraderie that was essential for a well run platoon.

She also noticed a weird energy that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

As Maria watched the group, her eyes kept drawing back to Eddie and Jamie. Eddie had remained sitting and Jamie was facing the circle of friends between the bar and Eddie. They were certainly a part of the conversations and cross-talk, but then they would have these moments where they were clearly carrying on their own quick, quiet conversations and Maria noticed they kept…touching. Not blatant. There was no kissing, no hand-holding. Not sloppy, either. She knew Eddie had been drinking, but she was certainly still holding her own and not yet in need of being held up. She sipped her wine and was determined to figure out what exactly was going on with these two.

Eddie's left shoulder and back were leaned, ever so slightly against the right side of Jamie's torso. Maria studied Jamie's posture and realized he was leaning into Eddie as well. Just. Barely. Touching. He also had a calculated way of setting down his pint glass at a particular spot on the bar so that he brushed Eddie's right shoulder each time he went for a sip. Every single time Eddie's shoulders would shiver involuntarily and the slightest flick of a smile would play on her face. At one point, Jamie leaned down and whispered something in Eddie's ear. She gave one of her signature laughs, throwing back her golden mane and offering a robust, throaty chuckle toward the ceiling. Jamie smiled like a kid who was proud that he was rewarded with his favorite dessert. That's when Maria took stock of these eye conversations they were having. These weren't 'partner, I think this perp is lying' eye conversations. _These were eye-fucking conversations_ , Maria realized, as she started to choke on her sip of wine.

"Baez, you okay?" Eddie immediately turned to her in concern.

Maria cleared her throat and hoped she hid the guilt she felt at her realization. "So let me ask you a question." Kara had shifted toward the two of them, hoping to join in the conversation. Maria waved her hand between the two of them and said, "You're pretty, single girls here at Ladies' Night and all you are doing is hanging out with men who are essentially...unavailable." Maria, who was handing each woman a tequila shot, didn't hide her glance toward Jamie as she said that last, important word. She kind of enjoyed watching them squirm, as the only answer Eddie gave was a small shrug and Jamie was blankly nodding to the football conversation with the group while doing of terrible job of pretending to not eavesdrop on the three women.

Kara handed her full shot glass to Eddie and said, "I forgot. I'm driving."

Eddie proffered the second one to Maria who declined, explaining she was also driving. Kara watched Eddie down one shot and follow it with a long pull from her beer. "I'll save that other one," she said while setting the second shot glass on the bar.

"I'm gonna find you a guy." Kara declared after a brief pause, firmly pointing in the air toward Eddie, as though she just had the best idea ever. Maria didn't miss the flashing look Kara gave Jamie. _They can say what they want about bro code,_ Maria thought proudly, _but it's got nothing on sisters in arms._

Eddie gave a small laugh and shake of her head at Kara before leaning toward Maria to finally answer her question. "It just seems like a lot of guys don't get it. I've lied about what I do. I've skirted around and said things like I work in the 'security field'" Eddie rolled her eyes and took a sip of beer. "But I told Josh I was a cop and he was okay with that until...I guess, he wasn't."

"What happened?" Maria asked, although she already knew the answer as Danny had bragged about the off-duty heroics of Officers Reagan and Janko. Ironically, the topic had come up when a few detectives at the 5-4 were talking about Jamie and Eddie being on a date when they took down a couple of tweakers with guns looking to rob the place. In typical Danny fashion, he boldly inserted himself into the conversation to not only dispel that they weren't in fact on a date, but to also give a play-by-play of how the officers expertly handled the situation. She let Eddie retell it and as she wrapped up, Maria asked, "What did Josh do?"

"NOTHING!" Eddie exclaimed but then rolled her eyes and her shoulders sagged at what she just said. Eddie gave a small sigh and fully turned away from the rest of the group and faced Maria so that their knees were almost touching. "It's not that he did nothing during the robbery. That's easy for me to say, but that's not it. It's that after it happened he did nothing. No calls and then just broke it off because he couldn't handle it and it was an assault to his manhood or whatever. Meanwhile, this one," she jabbed a thumb in the air in Jamie's direction "gets texts 'you're so brave' 'you're so hot'." Eddie's voice went up a few octaves and batted her eyelashes when she said this; it made Maria let out a small quiet laugh.

 _Par for the course_ , she thought. Maria didn't have the heart to tell Eddie that part wouldn't change as she stayed with the force. It was often that female officers were overlooked for their heroics, while it was seen as natural, and thereby praised, when their male counterparts took the same brave actions; if she stayed on, and Maria felt like she would, Eddie would have to work twice as hard as the men to not be seen as the sidekick or play second fiddle. Maria could tell she and Eddie were on the road to friendship and she would have more chances to mentor the officer. "I'm hot and brave, too, dammit!" Eddie attempted boldness and humor, but Maria, watching Eddie take the second shot of tequila and follow it with a long sip of beer, wasn't fooled. She heard the insecurity and frustration that Eddie struggled to mask.

Behind Eddie, Maria watched Jamie's profile, still half-engaged in conversation with other officers. He had heard the entire exchange between the two women and his whole body let out a sad, heavy sigh and his head slightly dropped ever so briefly at Eddie's last statement.

Maria leaned to Eddie and quietly asked, "Have you ever thought about dating a cop?"

Eddie didn't have time to answer because Kara had temporarily forced their circle to widen as she approached with a handsome man. _White male, early 40s,_ _dark hair,_ _dark_ _tailored_ _suit, expensive watch and shoes_ , Maria thought. Occupational hazard, she sized up everyone this way, even the grocery clerk. Kara was speaking, "Chip, this is Eddie. Eddie, Chip. He's in commercial real estate." Kara, looking a little smug with herself, moved right behind Maria's shoulder.

Maria realized that their group had shrunk, Kelsey and Paul must have left. However the formidable circle tightened quickly as the remaining five men, all standing at their fullest and broadest, were suddenly very interested in Chip. _Oh, yes, then there's this_ , Maria thought. As difficult as men outside the force could be, the brothers in blue could be more difficult. Thankfully, in this moment, Eddie wasn't experiencing the misogynistic side of that world, although it certainly existed. No, this was their attempt to protect her from the scumbags they dealt with daily. They all wanted to puff up their chests and act like her big brother.

All except one.

Jamie reached around Eddie to offer an extended hand, "Officer Reagan, how are you? Chip was it?"

Hesitantly, Chip returned the firm handshake along with a nod and a simple, "Yes."

"I want to ask you a quick question." Several of the guys quietly chuckled, knowing what was coming next. Eddie rolled her eyes and started to say something, but Jamie was too fast for her and he continued, "Do you think it's hot when a girl has a boy's name?"

Chip flashed a quick look at Kara and turned back to Eddie, very politely saying, "I didn't realize you were here with someone. Have a lovely evening."

As he walked away, the five men laughed. _What a bunch of immature_ -, Maria's thoughts were cut off from Kara's voice, behind her. "Jesus, Jamie! How will Eddie ever get a date if you keep asking every single guy she meets that question?!" Jamie responded only with raised, satisfied eyebrows and a wide smile as he took a long pull behind the pint glass.

Maldonado cut in, "Eddie, didn't we agree after you told us that story about that ridiculous guy at that wedding you went to, that question was the best litmus test to see how much of a douchebag a guy is?!"

Eddie shook her head, "I guess, but you guys are leaving homegirl out to dry here! And no one ever gives Jamie grief that he has a girl's name." She dramatically slumped over and buried her hands in her face.

"That's because no one has ever tried to use that line on me before," he quickly retorted with a knowing pop of his eyebrows as Eddie tossed her face back in his direction. Maria noticed that Jamie was very pleased with himself and flashing that big smile and a wink at Eddie. Maria also noticed that Eddie didn't seem too disappointed that Jamie ran that cute guy off. _Young and dumb_ , she thought, shaking her head, _These two are_ _so_ _young and dumb._

"Alright," Eddie made a single clap of her hands and hopped off the barstool, emboldened by the two tequila shots and several beers that were quickly warming her body. "My turn." She turned to Kara and said, "Detective Hottie from Homicide came in a few minutes ago and I'm" she pointed two thumbs at herself, "gonna get YOU a date!" She pointed two fingers at Kara and jerked her head in a motion for her to follow.

"No..." Kara whined, still standing behind Maria. "That one date he and I had was really awkward."

"Hey," Jamie said to Eddie as he gently turned her toward him, keeping his hand on her shoulder. "I've gotta get out of here. I have an early ring time tomorrow and then we're on swing. Want me to take you home?" He tipped his head toward her and gave a small smile.

 _Damn, Reagan, you're practically begging,_ Maria thought. She shook her head, watching the exchange between the two.

Eddie had her small hands balled up in playful fists and lightly pounded on his chest. After a moment of evident internal debate she replied softly, playfully, "No, Champ, I'm gonna serve as wing woman tonight. Besides, I'm a little mad at you." She glanced up at him under long lashes and pretended to pout.

He offered an innocent wide-eyed look of confusion and pointed to himself, "Me? For what?" The same hand he had just pointed to himself with briefly grazed her shoulder for a moment too long and he reached around for his beer. She only offered a quiet, punctuating, "hm" to which he let out a quiet puff of a laugh before he took a sip of his beer. "Besides, Janko," he said thoughtfully after his short sip, "you don't want to be with some commercial real estate guy." He looked down at her with one knowing eyebrow cocked and a smirk creeping up one side of his mouth.

"Reagan, we aren't judging people based off of what they do for a living, right?" Her tone was exaggerated, clearly full of pretense and script. He responded with that full smile and a small puff of a laugh before he once again leaned in close to say something only meant for her. At this point Eddie and Jamie started talking so quietly, Maria couldn't hear anymore, but she did notice that Jamie's hand was unnecessarily on Eddie's lower back now.

Maria felt like it was so intimate that she should look away, but she just couldn't. She was still trying to figure this out. She didn't move her eyes from the two, but she whispered to Kara, "Damn, are they always like this?"

Kara, wide-eyed, quickly replied, "They're really not sleeping together."

Maria cocked one eyebrow and said, "I never said they were."

Kara rolled her eyes and whispered, "Look around. A lot of people talk about it like they are, but we all know they really aren't," she weighed out how much to continue, "yet."

Maria chuckled lightly, "Yet?"

"I mean, look at them. They are never like this at the House, ever, but when we're out, all together, this is normal. And they are terrible at hiding it. They think they're great at it, but no one's fooled. But we also all know that they really aren't doing anything except...flirting. So we all just keep acting like nothing is going on and play the spread." Kara shrugged and finished her beer.

"What do you mean play the spread?"

"The pool. The bet. About when they'll finally get together." Kara looked at Maria as if she was explaining something obvious to a small child. "There's one at the 5-4, I'm certain Danny's in on it."

Maria wide-eyed incredulously whispered back, "I thought that was a joke!"

"Oh, no." Kara was very matter of fact as she continued to whisper. "Obviously the biggest one is at the 12th. The 5-4 has one going too. Kelsey told me that after the softball game, they started one at the 3-6. There's a rumor that one is set up at 1PP but, no one knows who is in on that one, so it is probably just a rumor."

Maria waved her hand and laughed, "Get the fuck outta here."

Kara laughed in return, "Seriously-" she had more to say but was cut off as both women turned to Eddie who was laughing out loud at something Jamie just said.

Maria couldn't help herself from being caught up in the fascination at what these two were pulling off. She knew these two were being so dumb, but the thrill of just how far they might go was unnerving in an exciting way. She almost wished she had popcorn.

"What did you actually text her though, Reagan? I need a word-for-word explanation here." Eddie had her loud, lifted tone full of playfulness and her finger was punctuating her words in the air. Her eyes glinted at the challenge she was making while she watched Jamie pull his cell phone out of his pocket and read to her out loud.

"I quote, 'Caroline, you really should look at a place in Jersey. It's cheaper and they have great malls. Tell Josh hey.'" He smiled down at Eddie who was looking at him speculatively.

She snatched the phone from him and looked at the screen in satisfaction. "Tell Josh 'hey?' Seriously, Jamie?"

"I didn't want to be a complete ass." He shrugged and looked down at Eddie. She slightly shrugged one shoulder and handed his phone back to him, looking back right into his eyes for a few moments too long.

 _There they go with those eyes again_ , Maria thought.

As if snapping out of a trance, Eddie turned to Kara. "You," she pointed and then visually scanned the surrounding patrons, "and you!" she pointed to Marcus, who immediately crossed the short distance to her. "Let's go get you some! Wing woman, reporting for duty!" She made short mock salute and pushed Marcus in front of her as she reached to pull Kara by the wrist.

Jamie tapped Eddie's arm and thrust his chin her direction, "I'm heading out soon. See you tomorrow, Shorty." Her goodbye was to smirk and wink at him over her shoulder as she shuffled her friends into the thick crowd.

As Kara passed Maria she whispered, "She loves it when he calls her that" and smiled conspiratorially. Maria smiled in reply as she knew she was making a friend in Kara as well.

Jamie turned his body to the bar and Maria saw his smile, once again like a kid who was proud to be rewarded with his favorite dessert. "So, Baez," he began, "how are things at the 5-4?" He remained standing but moved closer to Maria so they could hear each other. She noticed Jamie had turned back to the crowd and his eyes continued to scan the crowded bar until he found Eddie. Then he did a full visual scan of the bar, located Eddie, and zeroed in on who was around her.

 _This is fascinating to watch_ , she thought. She watched him repeat this visual exercise twice and then responded, "Well, you know I work with your brother so you can imagine."

Absentmindedly he said, "Yeah, Danny is Danny, right?"

"You know, Danny and I talk about you."

"Yeah?" He finally looked at her with a quizzical look on his face, "About what?"

Baez saw her chance to get Jamie's guard down. "Well, we talk about what you are both doing with Marcus. He tells me what you guys get into with that kid and I think you make a lot of great calls with Marcus. He's got too much of Danny in him; they should both hear you out."

"Well, thanks, Baez. Marcus is a good kid, I think. He'll get there as long as Danny doesn't stand in his way. He has come a long way, though." He was still scanning the crowd while he talked.

Baez took one more shot to lay her foundation with Jamie. "We talk about you being a beat cop and I tell Danny to lay off and let you do what you love, you know?"

Jamie looked at her full in the face with some hesitation now. She wondered if he was on to her. He suspiciously said, "And what does Danny say about that?"

"Oh, you know. Your potential to promote, all the wasted opportunities, Harvard."

"Hm." He looked back out at the crowd.

 _Shit_ , she thought. She wanted to strike while he was engaged in this topic of conversation so she just went for it. "You know, there is one area that your brother and I agree when it comes to you."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" He was draining the last of his pint glass as she responded.

"You're a fucking idiot about Janko and you need a new partner."

His deep and unexpected breath in was his tell. She watched him try to figure out his next step. He finally turned his body to the bar and leaned on it against his forearms as he expelled the breath he was holding in. "Not you too, Baez." He tilted his head and broke out in that grin she knew won over more than Janko.

"You can give that smile to everybody from here to 1PP to Bay Ridge. This girl ain't buying it." She pointed to herself as she offered him her sweetest smile and her biggest doe-eyes just to prove that two can play the innocent game.

He puffed out a small laugh. "Alright. What do you think?"

"Listen, you're going to lose her either to another partner, when the Boss figures out what is going on with you two, to a promotion, or to another guy who can actually treat her how she deserves. Which of those scenarios sounds best?" Maria felt a twinge of guilt as she watched the conflict play out on his face.

He tipped his head back a bit and briefly squeezed his eyes shut. He then gave her a small smile and said, "So, you're telling me not the best of the both worlds, right?"

She replied with a small smile and a shake of her head. "I'm thinking, though, that you've heard this before, right? Partner or girlfriend."

"Yep, pretty much."

"How many precincts are in the Five?"

"I dunno." He shrugged, disinterested.

"Come on, Reagan. How many?"

He turned and looked at Maria in the face, knowing where she was going. "Seventy-seven. There are seventy-seven precincts in the Five." He already knew where she was going. His mind went there constantly.

"So there are seventy-six other places one of you could work." She let it linger for a minute. "And yet, here we are." She could tell by his measured gaze and his set Reagan jaw that he wanted to tell her how wrong she was. But, she also knew that he didn't have the willpower to deny what she and Danny talked about several times after the Price abduction, the UC Serbian sex-trafficking operation, the upcoming field work they wanted to tap Janko for; that Jamie was undeniably, relentlessly, and possibly recklessly, in love with his partner. Maria wrapped it up the only way she could, "Look, Reagan, the way I see it, you have two options; you either make your play for your girl or step aside so someone else can at least show her a good time." Maria released a small chuckle in an attempt to lighten what she realized was a heavy burden for the young officer. "Even if it is someone who can offer her...companionship, but maybe isn't her" she searched for the right word; not sure she found it, but it sounded right so she inserted, "soulmate."

Jamie didn't respond to Maria but he released a long exhale accompanied by a small eye roll. He motioned for the bartender, who was suddenly more available as it was later and the crowd had slightly thinned. "The tab for the blonde girl..." he gestured to the barstool Eddie had occupied while pulling out his wallet. The bartender waved him away and stated that there was nothing owed. Jamie smiled at Maria but it didn't reach his eyes, "See, she's a cheap date." He shrugged, surveyed the room once more, registered that Eddie was with people he knew and trusted, and turned to Maria. "I'm heading out. Good seeing you, Baez. Thanks."

Maria Baez couldn't believe it. She flicked at her bangs as she did when she was frustrated. For once, she preferred Danny's explosive, demonstrative release of emotion compared to the other Reagan's reserved and calculated….coldness? Dismissiveness? Detachment?

Maria didn't have too long to ponder this, as Eddie returned to her bar stool and proclaimed victory that she had successfully left the conversation flowing with Kara and Homicide Hottie and a flirtation sizzling with Marcus and a nurse from a local hospital. Quite proud of herself, Eddie sipped her abandoned beer at the bar and looked around. Her casual attempt fell flat when she asked Maria, "So, did Jamie leave?"

Maria narrowed her eyes at Eddie and prepared to launch into a similar lecture she had just given Jamie, but she was interrupted as a familiar pair of arms wrapped around shoulders from behind. Andre. She tipped her head back, but at a towering 6'2" he had to bend to kiss her. "Ready?" He asked her, with a sly smile.

Maria wanted nothing more than to get out of there and get lost in those dark chocolate eyes looking at her. "Well, I have to go to the ladies' room and I know there are people here you will start talking to, so I'm giving you ten minutes and then your ass is mine." She motioned with her chin to a group clustered against a far wall, noticing that Kara was part of the group she was sending Andre.

He gave her a kiss on the head and promised, "Ten minutes" before joining the group.

Maria watched him walk away. "Oh, God, I'm sorry! I didn't introduce you. I wasn't thinking. That's Andre."

"No, it's sweet." Eddie genuinely smiled at Maria. "It's like you too were lost in your own little world when you saw each other. It's really cute, actually." Maria studied Eddie who was pulling her phone out and finishing her beer. She decided she would send her a text next week to meet for coffee so she could corner Eddie when she was sober. "Alright. I've had too much to drink and I'm going to find Kara in ten minutes too. She can leave Homicide Hottie something to wish for."

"I'll let her know after I use the ladies' room. You good?" After she got a nod from Eddie Maria made her way to the back of the bar where the bathrooms were located. She retreated to look for Andre. She first found Kara and relayed that Eddie mentioned she was about ready. Maria said hello to Hank who she knew and laughed to herself; _Hank the Homicide Hottie_ , she thought. _These girls can be young and dumb but their pretty funny too._ She caught Andre's eyes, motioned at her watch with a playful, flirtatious smirk, and pointed to the bar. She made her way back to Eddie, knowing that he was going to follow her soon.

Eddie was sitting in her same spot. Her mouth was covered by the fingertips on her right hand and she was chewing on the inside of her lip, but it was her darting, nervous eyes that Maria noticed. "Eddie?" She was concerned.

"Um...I think I just did something really dumb," came her slow reply. Her eyes kept darting to her cell phone turned face down on the bar.

"What, Eddie?"

The only response Maria got was Eddie glancing from her phone on the bar and into Maria's questioning eyes. "I think I just texted Reagan," she finally mumbled from behind her hand.

"Okay?" Maria tentatively reached for the phone, went to the text messages and, read quickly. "Eddie?!"

"Ohhh, shit..." she blonde hair splayed over the arm she flopped her head onto as she grumbled her regrets to herself.

Maria couldn't help herself, she had to read it one more time. It wasn't overly sexual, but it was descriptive and definitely not something their CO should see. Jamie hadn't responded and there was no indication it had been read, but this didn't feel at all one-sided. Maria knew two things. One, Eddie and Jamie had definitely kissed once in his living room. Two, somebody was gonna cash in on that pool pretty soon.

"You ready, Baby?" Andre and Kara had returned. Eddie immediately pulled herself together to leave, not telling Kara what Maria knew about the text messages. Eddie mumbled an embarrassed good-bye and rolled her eyes. Maria tried to offer an encouraging smile, but she wasn't sure it helped at this point. Maria began to follow Andre out of the bar but stopped abruptly and pulled out her phone, "Wait, I need to send a quick text."

 **Danny, I want in on the Janko/Reagan spread.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"So I think I sent you a text last night that I meant to send Josh." _Stick to the script_ , Eddie thought, _stick to the script_. It was just the two of in the RMP and the start of their tour so she wanted to move through this quickly.

The night before Eddie was returned from Fireside to her apartment shortly before midnight, chauffeured by her friend Kara. Kara, unaware of the text messages, detected the buzz of busy-ness her friend possessed and left Eddie with a farewell statement to get some rest. Eddie was, however, driven by adrenaline-induced purpose. She washed dishes, made a grocery list, showered, meticulously blew out her hair, moisturized, plucked, exfoliated, all while trying to wrap her brain around what to do about those stupid text messages. She hadn't explicitly pushed it that far before with Jamie and she needed a plan before their shift started. The adrenaline tanked out and left her in exhausted state of worry, loneliness, and frustration. She lay in bed, feeling sorry for herself and finally gave in to a little self-pleasure before finally succumbing to a night of fitful, restless sleep. She awoke with a determination for how she would handle this. She would lie.

"Oh yeah?" he attempted nonchalance in his tone.

Upon returning to his apartment the night before Jamie was consumed with his conversation with Maria Baez. That wasn't exactly true. He was consumed with thoughts of Eddie; how she smelled, what she had been wearing, that electric energy he felt when they were together outside of work. As this was happening more often after he left her, he knew that he had to make some decisions. Eddie's break up with Josh had only made it worse...or better, depending on the perspective. Their words had dangerously moved clearly out of the "partner zone," especially tonight, and neither one was stopping the other. This emboldened him at one point that night to whisper to her, "Damn, Eddie, your ass in those pants is killing me tonight." She had offered one of her loud, appreciative laughs directed at the ceiling that always meant she wanted to reply but was taken aback by him and at a loss herself of what to say. He liked throwing her off her own game every now and then. She paid him back a few minutes later when they were talking quietly, just the two of them, and she brought her lips dangerously close to his ear and softly, flirtatiously whispered, "Hey, so now that I know it turns you on when I fight bad guys, what else turns you on?" It was his turn to be left speechless and all he could do was exhale a laugh and sip his beer. This exchange, just an hour before, was what consumed Jamie as he stood at his kitchen counter drinking a glass of water and rubbing his hands over his eyes while considering the things they were teasing each other with. This particular night he had the added struggle of trying to block Baez' narrative that continued to creep into his thoughts. He firmly set down the empty glass and decided that, for tonight he would have to take matters into his own hands, literally, shower, and sleep it off. His mind was flipping through the mental catalog he had of Eddie fantasies while the water in the shower was warming and he pulled off his jeans. When he retrieved the cell phone that had fallen to the floor from his back pocket, he noticed he had several unread text messages. The first read of the messages from Eddie had him a little wind struck and blushed at reading her flirtations right there in front of him. The second read pushed his bravado a little further as he stepped in to the shower, thinking of a whole new fantasy.

"Yeah. I know it sounds dumb, but I had too much to drink and I was feeling lonely, so I texted him. Ya' know. Flirting, stupid stuff." As Eddie created her script that morning she knew she could wound her pride with this blatant lie a hell of a lot easier than she could deal with having to admit to all of those things she texted him. "I think I just went to the J's in my phone and Jamie, Josh, I just got them mixed up."

"From too much drinking?"

"Yep. From too much drinking."

He pondered this. He promised himself he wouldn't bring it up unless she did. And they really had not crossed to this personal level of blurring the lines while in uniform. Mild innuendo and slight undertone, yes. This acknowledgement of actions and incredibly suggestive desires, no. That acknowledgement of their attraction and shameless flirting was reserved for after hours. And sometimes before hours. And days off. Acknowledgement that was happening a lot more lately. But not on the job. So why the hell could he not stop himself from perpetuating this by saying, "But you have me saved in your phone as 'Reagan.'"

 _Fuck you, Reagan_ , she thought. Why couldn't he just let her have this and move on, like she did for him when he drunk dialed her? A month, maybe two before, he'd called her, not declaring that he'd had too much scotch, although he clearly had, as he began going through what she had affectionately dubbed The Four Phases of Drunk Jamie. And while some of his alcohol-infused confessions were actually more sincere and sentimental than Eddie's current dilemma of juvenile flirtatious text messages, it was just as clear that he struggled with the same battle of where he wanted and needed her in his life. When he had cut his eyes at her the morning following his inebriated call and mumbled, "That call last night-" she cut him off with some passing, generic statement they should both forget that it happened, no big deal, no harm done. But she didn't forget it. She never brought it back up to him, never ran his words against him, never made him relive that verbal walk of shame. She never talked about that call out loud. But she did remember it when her jealousy flared, when she was feeling insecure about this holding pattern they kept dancing in. She even remembered that phone conversation, that stupid but honest drunk-dial, when she was dating someone with whom she found herself mentally comparing, and not measuring up, to Jamie. And then, whether it was to Jamie or some guy with whom she had reached an end, her trademark Serbian-temper burned. Her snide comments and explosive demands would fly. She would make something seemingly benign into an issue because whatever it was struck a chord on that single buried, complicated phone call she never talked about and all the history that was tied up in it.

Eddie studied Jamie, trying to assess his play here. She got that he was posturing a little bit. If she was honest, she would have been, too. It was good for anyone's ego to get that kind of stroke, but it felt like he was almost testing her. That's what so many of these exchanges felt like lately. Initiated equally by both of them, little tests to see how far the other was going to go, but neither one with any real commitment to calling the game. So they would retreat and until the other one offered some bait for the game to resume. It was becoming exhausting. She was just going to tell him, openly honestly, she wanted a new partner. She wanted to give it a try with him as her...what? As her boyfriend? Her friend with benefits? She knew that he was interested in her. There was really no going back on that for either of them. The dance, if this conversation was any indication, was becoming a distraction. She took a breath to finally lay this out for him, but the words out of her mouth were instead, "No, I'm pretty sure it's in there as 'Jamie.'" _Coward_ , she thought to herself, _you, Eddie Janko are a big coward_.

"Hm. Cause I'm pretty sure you typed ' **Jamie** , when I remember that kiss in your living room I become obsessed with remembering how your mouth tastes. It's almost wrong what it does to me.'" He was certain to place a lot of emphasis on his own name. He glanced at her before saying, "Just so we have the facts straight." He wasn't smiling, but his eyes had that playful spark she couldn't resist. Hearing him say it made her hold her breath as she remembered how freely she let her guard down while her mind, floating on their night of teasing and just enough alcohol to be dangerous, let her thumbs take over her phone the night before. She knew exactly what she typed because she had read it five million times that morning, just to see if it could be interpreted in a more tame and platonic way. This was a completely fruitless endeavor, especially as the following text included a statement that they should try it again soon and reminding him that he had a key to her apartment. He didn't mention that though.

Eddie turned her full face to his profile. Typical. She was always the first to be vulnerable, honest, forthright. Granted, this time it came after trying to be intentionally deceptive, but it still always came around to her being the one who played her full hand first. "Okay, Reagan. So what do you have to say about the turn ons? What turns you on?" In her text message, she reminded him that he never answered her question at the bar; so what does turn him on?

He still kept that perfectly innocent Boy Scout forward-facing stare, but she noticed the gulp in his throat and the small, impish smile he directed to the windshield. He shrugged and rattled off, "Ya' know, the usual. Natural brunette, short, wise-ass attitude, shit-talker." He had that look on his face that she loved to hate; a perfect mix of smug smile, set jaw, casual, know-it-all confidence. She knew the bullshit of that expression, that tone, but when he was so good at pulling off his indifference, especially when it was directed at HER, it was so frustrating...and such a turn-on at the same time.

"Wow! Shit-talker?! Is that how you see me?" Eddie loudly and playfully jumped into the banter that was familiar and effortless between them.

He didn't miss a beat and that quick wit of his immediately threw back, "So we ARE talking you about you and me?"

You and me. It hung there. In the middle of the playful, friendly fire they easily exchanged there was this unspoken understanding that they weren't, in fact, actually willing to talk about the two of them-together. They were both tired of this. How long ago had it been that they agreed ' _Partners, for now. As long as it works_ '? Dancing in a jazz club in Tribeca, using few words to weigh out what they already had with each other versus what they could have. It was Eddie who had finally been willing to make a move and say that she was fine with being partners at work, for now. But she openly admitted that she didn't know how long 'for now' would be. Jamie, grateful for her willingness to say it first, as she always did, said he felt the same way. Neither one knew what the next best and logical step was, but they knew that they were on a path, at some point, to shift their relationship.

"Alright, fine. You caught me. The texts were meant for you," she rushed out with her own unamused, although slightly exaggerated, expression. He rolled his eyes and smirked, but stayed silent. She briefly tugged her teeth over her bottom lip. She should have been more prepared to throw him off, but direct and matter-of-fact would certainly do it. She recalled the text messages so that she would have a specific reference. "Tell me about your fantasies then." He blew out a huff of a laugh, accompanied by a smile that was definitely covering embarrassment. She waved her left hand over her body as she said, "C'mon, Reagan. You've definitely thought about this before."

"In those thoughts, you're not wearing your uniform." There was so much that was unsaid in that quick and immediate response, she was surprised and taken off guard. Again, his everyday, conversational tone was unsettling for Eddie. She wasn't expecting Jamie to be at all comfortable with this conversation. There was the obvious; he'd thought about "it" involving her. He'd also made a point to not think about her in uniform, as if that meant his thoughts were in direct violation of the Patrol Guide.

"Oh, okay. So you admit it." She laughed playfully as she caught the small smile on Jamie's face. But then it all shifted for her, the charm in their teasing conversation suddenly gone as quickly as she turned it on. She was suddenly becoming uncomfortable with where they were both taking the conversation. She needed to put up that wall to keep them from going further just to end up with more questions, more doubt. Frankly, she was also embarrassed that she let this conversation unfurl the way it did; what made her think she could completely lie about these dumb text messages. "Alright, Jamie, can we just-let's-let's just drop it and act like it never happened. Okay?" She watched for Jamie's response. He took a deep breath through his nose and cut a look her direction to make sure she was okay. He felt a rush of shame; professionally, yes, but more so that he had initiated this embarrassing conversation for his own ego and desire for her to say it out loud. And the real shame he felt was that he wanted her to say it, make a step, be vulnerable, when he wouldn't.

"Of course," was all he said. He could have continued to tease her, engage in this exchange, but he knew that tone from Eddie and it was best to retreat. She was looking out the window but turned to him and gave one of her winks that was more familial than seductive, another one of their eye conversations that expressed her gratitude and no hard feelings. Jamie watched her roll her eyes at herself as she good-naturedly, under her breath, said that she couldn't believe she sent those dumb text messages, before turning her head to look out the window again. He couldn't help himself, "Can I just ask one more thing?"

Eddie groaned, the annoyance she felt evident on her face. The smallest smile escaped and she bit the inside of her lip to keep that smile in check. She knew exactly what he was going to ask and she immediately knew how she would answer. God, they were hopeless. "Just one. And then we are completely done."

Jamie had that wide, boyish grin and he quickly wiped his thumb across his bottom lip. Mildly embarrassed, cleared his throat before he spoke. "So, what, uh, exactly would you do with chocolate and a blindfold?"

Eddie kept her gaze out the window so that she could mask her smug smile, affirming how right she had been about this last question. "Well," she replied, her tone intentionally low and and still looking out the window, "it's not something I can explain. It's really something that you have to experience." She smiled to herself as Jamie let out a small, quiet laugh that she knew was accompanied by an eye roll. And she knew that she was up one on the scoreboard...until next time.

 **A/N:** Thanks to those who let me know what you think. I'm new to FF and this was a fun spin. A new story will be out in a few days about that drunk-dial, but I would love to hear any suggestions you guys might have there. Thanks for reading!


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